Question

Assignment: Think About and Post: If you were an HR manager today, think about the pros and cons of being an HR manager in a unionized company and a union-free company. Write and post a healthy paragraph on the differences you might face being an HR manager in both of these environments. ning comment

Answer 1

Being an HR manager is not always an easy job as it seems to be from the outside. This role has its own challenges and is highly dependent on the organisational structure. When we say, organisational structure, there are majorly two types namely unionised and non unionised structures. The unionised structures are the ones which have an employee union in place. It is basically a body which represents and negotiates employees concerns and challenges in the workplace with the employer. In a non unionised structures, the employers manage their own employees and try to understand their challenges by maintaining a transparent structure.

Although there is a huge decilne in the unionised structure, but they still persist in some sectors or organisations. We are going to discuss the pros and cons that as an HR manager I would face working in both organisational structures.

Pros of Unionised vs Non unionised structure:

a. As an unionised structure HR manager, I would have the advantage of negotiating through a single party i.e the union rather than indulging into conversations with several employees and addressing different challenges. Whereas, in a non unionised structure where an employer has a better hold on the employee's with no unions involved in between, it is easier to negotiate or resolve challenges if any by making necessary changes.

b. In a unionised structure, there is an agreement in place which fixes the pays and promotional hikes according to the terms agreed in the contract. This gives the employee's the job security and makes it better for them to deploy their skills without any pressure of being removed from the organisation until and unless there is some serious issue such as theft etc by the employee. In a non unionised structure the advantage of being a HR manager is to motivate the employee's through various programs such as incentives, reward and recognition which is under the control of the employer and there are lesser revolts when compared to a unionised structure and it saves the overall cost of the organisation as it is under the control of the employer.

Cons of Unionised vs Non unionised structure

a. A unionised structure will have more disadvantage to an organisation than compared to the advantages. The reason being, unions and employers most of the time have a different agenda. The union's agenda is to protect their union members and employers agenda would be to increase productivity and make profits. As an HR manager, the most challenging situation would be to act as a negotiator between both parties especially when both the parties have completely opposite views.

Comparatively the non unionised structure are far better where employees have a direct connect with the organisation. But the disadvantage of an HR manager in a non unionised structure is employee retention. Since employees have the right to make their own decisions and if they are not happy with the organisation's offerings they would want to leave the organisation. This as an HR manager is challenging especially when a productive employee moves out, as the most suitable candidate needs to be deployed and might take time and increase cost.

b. A unionised structure has defined pay wages and promotions based on the seniority of the employees which does not give a reason for junior employees to encourage them to display their skills. Whereas, in a non unionised structure each employee is encouraged to display their ideas and creative skills which would be an added advantage to the organisation in building a prominent workforce.

The disadvantage of a non unionised structure from an HR manager perspective would be to keep the workforce more inclined towards accepting the changes according to organisation's goals. Since change is something which is not accepted instantly and takes, the role of an HR manager plays an important role in ensuring that the changes incorporated are adopted and the challenge is to make the employee's understand of the advantages of the change.